Brush News

Rape comment by Rep. Joe Salazar reaps viral reaction

By Lynn BartelsThe Denver Post

Posted:
02/20/2013 12:01:00 AM MST

Updated:
02/20/2013 10:36:40 AM MST

Rep. Joe Salazar. (Denver Post file)

Conservatives escalated their attacks on a Colorado Democrat Tuesday over his comments on rape, even falsely tying Rep. Joe Salazar to a 2006 university police memo that advised "vomiting or urinating" may ward off attackers.

The barrage of attacks came after Salazar unwittingly turned into the poster child for Republican resentments, from the defeat of GOP candidates who made oafish comments about rape to the likely passage of gun-control measures going through the Democratic-controlled legislature.

The rookie lawmaker was skewered throughout social media as Red State America relished getting to use the "war on women" theme against its original authors.

Salazar's remarks inspired a #LiberalTips2AvoidRape hashtag on Twitter, with comments that reflected both the misinformation concerning the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs campus police memo and the partisan divide in the county.

"Let it happen and blame George W. Bush," one person tweeted.

Salazar, a rookie from Thornton who took office in January, during debate urged the passage of bill concerning guns on campus. He said he was trying to make the point that guns on campuses don't necessarily make schools safer.

Lawmakers had been going on at it since 9:30 that morning when Salazar, who teaches a class at Metro, went to the microphone that night to talk about why he supports the bill.

He said he has discussed a scenario with his students about being inside a classroom and hearing gunshots and asking them how they might respond. He said he pointed out to them that they wouldn't know whether the armed person they might encounter was the perpetrator or the law-abiding citizen.

"That's why there shouldn't be concealed carry weapons on campus or at least in the buildings. Because you don't know. You can actually be shooting someone who thinks they're protecting you."

Salazar said he wished he would have stopped at that point, but he continued, talking about the hot-button topics mentioned in his class, including racial profiling, a student being upset at a professor and "gender inequities on college campuses."

"Universities have been faced with that situation for a long time," he said.

"It's why we have call boxes, it's why we have safe zones, it's why we have the whistles. Because you just don't know who you're gonna be shooting at. And you don't know if you feel like you're gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone's been following you around or if you feel like you're in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop, pop a round at somebody."

Rep. Polly Lawrence, a Douglas County Republican, tweeted the following at 7:35 p.m.: "Rep. Salazar says women on campus may not know when they're being raped."

She said Salazar yelled from the side of the floor, "Nice try, that's not what I said," and Salazar later went to the microphone to dispute her comments.

Saine said she thought she had heard him wrong, and apologized at the microphone.

Democrats said they knew what Salazar meant and Saine had apologized, so they thought the issue was over.

But on Monday — the same day the House was officially voting on the gun legislation — Revealing Politics posted a video of Salazar's comments, igniting a viral cultural war that combined women and guns .

Salazar was stunned Tuesday at being falsely linked to the campus police memo.

"Urinated on yourself as recommended by RepSalazar," one person tweeted.

"Vomit up a pair of scissors & hide under your desks, also pee yourself," another wrote.